1984 School Magazine

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While Accounting is still the main student area user of the PDP 11/23, it is pleasing to see that Mathematics (for Years B and 9) and Ceography (see below) are making increasing use of the minicomputer. Purchase was recently made of a Tatu ng terminal f or evaluation with a view to possible expansion in that direction in 1985 as at half the cost it represents a great advance on our present very reliable but very basic terminals and in addition it- features upper and lower case and an editing keypad. What is even more pleasing about the Geography involvement is that the programs have been conceived at school and some of them entered by Year 9 computer club students during the limited access they have on Wed nesday and Th u rsday lu nch hou rs. Other lu nch hours and before and after school have been devoted to Accounting as 50 students vie for time on the B terminals at present available. Ceography is cu rrently using or has in itiated moves to use, the three systems available at B.C.C.S. o The PDP 11 mini computer is being used for hands- on experience by students. Program mes include pnactical exercises in coastal geomorphology and settlement studies. Both f acilitate student calcu lations, wh ile the coastal program me sim u lates wave ref raction eff ects f or deep water waves entering shallow water. These programmes have follow-up exercises which require student analysis and interpretation of results. A further programme which simulates kangaroo harvesting and management strategies is being developed. lt is envisaged that these will be used at a senior level. Several simulation games have been developed or are being developed. Current programrnes include Forest Management Practices, Nile Floods, Nomads in Nigeria and Squatter settlements in 3rd World cities. These are being used in Years 9 and 10. o Geography students will have out-of-school hours access to Tandy microcomputers. They w!ll be able to use a recently acquired graphics programme to display census data as required in local area assignments in the Year l2settlement course, and in other relevant areas. o Recent pu rchases have been made of several geography packages for the Iibrary based Apple lle computer. These include Village, two simulations - one on Water Catchment Management and one on Malthus'Theory of Population Growth and Demograph ics. The latter provides popu lation information on a wide range of countries and allows sim u lation of f utu re growth patterns. U ntil the school has more Apples, no hands on experience will be available to students for these packages. ln 1985, however, a large T.V. screen will be available for use as a classroom monitor. This will enable teachers to demonstrate these packages as an adjunct to their classroom lesson. 30

The Mathematics teachers of Grade B took over the task of teaching computer awareness for this year, with each class operating compute rs " hands-on" f or 1 lesson per week. Our aim was to give them half the year on simple programming in BASIC with a general look at the workings and implications of computer technology, wh ile in the second half we wou ld illustrate some computer applications. The students have responded positively to the course. All Maths classes in Grades 9, X0 and 11 will have completed a2week unit illustrating some application of Computing to their Maths work at the appropriate level. The aim is to show how a computer, when programmed properly, provides a tremendous aid in repetitive calcu lation. The Grad e 12 Maths ll class and the Grad e 12 Maths in Society classes are pursuing a full Semester Unit of CompLrting. They bry their own disks and write programmes. The Maths ll work is quite demanding, and these students produced some impressive work, particularly in an assignment they were set. The Maths in Society students will also write some programs while having much more time on the applications of Word Processing, use of spreadsheets and graphical presentation of data. This seems to be a fitting conclusion to a practical look at Mathematics as used in the real world. Students are able to use the computers outside School hours, with several groups operating under teacher su pervision. Miss Stephens is ru n n ing a clu b of you ng students whose main sphere of interest at present is graphics, while Mr. Elmes is taking some advanced students in a preparation for a team competition. It is also very pleasing to see students walking into the room and trying out the sample disks with various programs for their interest. The f uture is indeed bright for the involvement of all students in this exciting technological innovation, which will be as commonplace as colour television in the f uture.